CARDINALS’ MUSIAL ‘THE MAN’ — AND ONE OF SPORT’S MOST HUMBLE ICONS

“Great ballplayer, but above all, he was the most humble icon I’ve ever encountered,” Gwynn said. “Wherever he went, he spread happiness.”

One by one, Musial may have made more fans after he retired than he did as a player. For a majority of people, his legend was forged by word-of-mouth and history, because even baby boomers were probably too young to have seen him in his prime.

“Growing up, Pop would take us to the ballpark (Dodger Stadium), so I got to see all the heroes — Mays, Aaron, Clemente,” Gwynn said. “The older guys — Ted Williams, Stan Musial — you had to read about. My dad bought us baseball books. We’d look at the lists: all-time hits, all-time batting average, all-time home runs. And there was Stan Musial’s name ... everywhere!”

The day came when Gwynn passed Musial in those record books. With his eighth and last National League batting title, Gwynn moved past Musial and into a tie with Rogers Hornsby for the second-most crowns in major league history. Gwynn prizes the pictures of Musial presenting him with some of his hitting awards, but more prized were the friendship and the moments that Gwynn got to spend with one of the few men in history with quite such a grasp of a baseball bat.

“We kinda hit it off,” Gwynn said. “When we were in St. Louis and he’d stick his head in our locker room to say hello, that was like the President stopping by to say hi. As petrified as I was of Ted Williams, Stan was the complete opposite. He just naturally put you at ease. I loved the time I had with him.”